Netflix confirmed Tuesday that, in response to legal threats from Saudi Arabia, it has removed an episode of a comedy show that featured criticism of the kingdom and its royal family.
The episode of the satirical comedy show “The Patriot Act,” in which comedian Hasan Minhaj criticized Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman for his role in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, was made inaccessible to viewers in Saudi Arabia but remains available to viewers in the rest of the world.
“At one point they were saying he died in a fist fight, Jackie Chan-style. They went through so many explanations. The only one they didn’t say was that Khashoggi died in a free solo rock-climbing accident,” Minhaj said of Saudi officials’ efforts to distance Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman from Khashoggi’s death.
The Saudi exile was murdered and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey by a team of assassins. The CIA determined with a high degree of confidence that the agents were dispatched by bin Salman, though the crown prince and other top officials claim the killers acted without informing the crown prince.
Citing legal threats issued under Saudi Arabia’s cybercrime law, Netflix defended its decision to remove the content in a statement provided to the Financial Times.
“We strongly support artistic freedom worldwide and only removed this episode in Saudi Arabia after we had received a valid legal request — and to comply with local law,” the statement read.
The statute Netflix cited criminalizes the “production, preparation, transmission, or storage of material impinging on public order, religious values, public morals, and privacy, through the information network or computers.”
Minhaj also criticized Saudi Arabia’s ongoing bombing campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen, which has resulted in a massive humanitarian crisis and overwhelming civilian casualties.
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